Hey, Alexa, will you be my Shopper?
I am always in want.
Help me lie down on nice couches.
Turn on the sounds of still waters.
Medicate my soul.

She guides me in the paths of indebtedness 
for desire’s sake.
When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear everything, for I am consumed.

The delivery truck and the brown box, they sooth me.
She prepares cheap food for my table 
and I am present with no one.
She anoints my eyes with seductive screens,

​My cup shrinks and I am empty.
Surely greed and debt will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the hell of consuming forever.

Today's post is from Micael Grenholm, a self-described Jesus hippie from Sweden. He is active in an Anabaptist network there, and is passionate that the work of peace and justice should be done through the presence and miraculous power of the Holy Spirit.  You can learn more about him and read his blog at this link.

Evangelical blogger and author Rachel Held Evans is no longer evangelical; she has joined the Episcopalian church which, in the US, is not very theologically conservative but rather progressive or liberal. This isn’t very surprising since Evans has been very critical to evangelical theology as well as evangelical views on politics, women, the LGBT community etc.

In an interview that has been published in several media, including Sojourners, Evans names these progressive values along with sacramental church life as being the reason she joined Episcopalianism. She’s also asked to comment the fact that the Episcopalian church is rapidly losing church attendees, to which she responds:

Just about every denomination in the American church — including many evangelical denominations — is seeing a decline in numbers, so if it’s a competition, then we’re all losing, just at different rates… Lately I’ve been wondering if a little death and resurrection is exactly what the American church needs… A church might produce thousands of attendees without producing any disciples.

This is quite remarkable, since the point of one of Evans’ most famous articles on CNN’s Belief Blog is that evangelical churches must become more liberal to stop millenials from leaving them. This is a similar argument to John Shelby Spong‘s famous thesis that Christianity must change or die. A former bishop in Evans’ new church, Spong argued that this change includes stop believing in theism, stop beliving in the supernatural, stop believing that prayer is useful and stop believing in physical resurrection. Pretty ridiculous. Evans is far from this extreme, but her reasoning in the CNN article was similar: liberal Christianity is necessary for church growth.

I remember how provoked I was by Evans’ article when I first saw it in 2013, partly because I (unlike Evans) am a millenial and I have no interest in embracing liberal theology, but also because I know that liberal churches like the Episcopalian church in the US or the Lutheran church here in Sweden, are declining like crazy. To present liberal theology as the answer to evangelical decline is both non-biblical and non-empirical.

Since the day I was saved I’ve based my faith in Jesus on the New Testament. There I read that Christ is the only way to God, that He was born of a virgin, that He performed miracles, that He assigned His disciples to heal the sick in His Name, to preach the Gospel always, to love their enemies, to erdicate poverty and to embrace holiness, teaching that life is sacred, that men shouldn’t have sex with each other, that personal wealth is wrong and that God’s people shouldn’t adapt to the standards of this world but be renewed by the Holy Spirit.

Now, this crosses the traditional lines between left and right. Evans criticizes how evangelicals support war, economic inequality and a judging mentality, and rightly so. A conservative Christian like Chelsen Vicari criticizes how progressive Christians downplay doctrine and opens up for heresy, doubts the miraculous and decreases incentives for evangelism, and rightly so. Is it just me who thinks that Biblical Christianity reject the bad stuff in both of these camps while preserving the good?

Christianity is growing massively in the majority world (Africa, Asia and Latin America), especially Pentecostal and charismatic churches. Liberal theology is largely a Western middle-class phenomena and it has absolutely nothing to do with church growth. Yet, even many Pentecostal and charismatic churches are decreasing in the US – as Evans says, all denominations are losing at different rates. How come?

Well, church growth is not just dependent on what doctrine you have but also on whether you evangelize or not. In the Majority World, evangelism is very common both as organized church events as well as spontanious actions in the daily life of Christians. In the West, it is very uncommon that the whole church leaves (or sells) the building to go out and share the Gospel together, and this builds a culture where Western Christians do not evangelize as often as Christians in the Majority World. Or the Bible.

As I’ve argued in a previous post, I think all churches should go back to the Biblical Jerusalem church structure where everyone participated in daily evangelism. This of course presupposes that the church believes in the Gospel and that evangelism is necessary. For the evangelism to be effective, it should be confirmed by miracles (Acts 14:3) as well as expressed in both words and deeds (Rom 15:18-19). Thus, charismatic activism combined with daily evangelism is a Biblical recipy that Western churches really should try out.

This means that Conservatives should be more passionate about peace and justice, liberals should be more passionate about miracles and the Gospel, and everyone should be more passionate about daily evangelism. Yet, Evans words about making disciples rather than attendees should be remembered – church growth isn’t necessarily a sign of Biblical Christianity, as the Mormon movement tells us for example. Still, if a church leads no one to Christ, they’re doing something wrong. And it could be as simple as the fact that they aren’t telling strangers about Him.
-Micael Grenholm

On Saturday, Dennis Miller shared an analogy at breakfast that really made sense. If we want a burger and we head to Burger King to get one, we don't sit out underneath the sign and expect burgers to appear. We head inside because the sign is only pointing to something else. We often get caught up in the signs that signify the presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Signs matter, they help guide us to our destination. Brands help us understand and name things. But they are not a destination.

I keep making signs my destination. It's so much easier to tell people about my church than it is to tell them about Jesus. It's so much easier to talk about Revive Indiana than to talk about Jesus.  I've been struck in the last few weeks at how focused God is on keeping undivided attention to Himself throughout the Bible.  The first few commandments from the 10 Commandments call us to give our undivided attention to the real presence of God. Don't substitute other gods, don't use His name carelessly, don't make images.  All of these, even the name of God itself, can begin to become a vain substitute. The living presence of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit continue this movement toward only focusing on His presence.

Did your church change your life? Did Revive Indiana change your life? Did the person who witnessed to you change your life? Did your cultural background change your life? Did your country change your life? They might have helped you find your way, but they aren't the source of what really matters, our true freedom, what really deserves our praise and sole adoration. 

What is the secret? Pay attention. Not to signs, but to Jesus. Every revival begins because we pay attention to Jesus in a new way. Over time the forms and culture begin to build around the revival, and we to lose our focus. We wonder who's showing up? Who's not showing up? There's only one place that we need to show up: before Jesus. 

On my better days, there is a prayer that starts my day. It simply is "God, who and what do you have for me today?" And then I continue that prayer throughout the day, listening for what God has given me.  Freedom isn't free. It is given to us by God alone through the sacrifice of  Jesus Christ. Only He deserves the credit. Don't give credit to anything else. 
-John M Troyer

Join us for a day of celebration and jubilee! Since January 12, Revive Indiana has been organizing prayers teams to go out and bless others. God's favor has rested on this effort as many have made decisions to be disciples of Jesus Christ, many have been healed, and many have found God's direction and voice. We eat together, pray together, go out together, and celebrate and worship together. The plan is to do this for 52 days and this period will end on March 4, 2015.  

That entire day will be a day of celebration, as thousands gather to go out into the streets with singing, trumpets and prayer. We will celebrate God's deliverance and healing in our community, eat together, and worship together.

Celebrations and feasts were a part of the fabric of Jewish life from their beginning. The evening of March 4th also begins the Jewish Feast of Purim.  This festival celebrates the salvation of the Jewish people from Haman's plot to destroy them. God accomplished this through a young woman named Esther who had the faithfulness and courage to go before the king with boldness to make her request. 

We will also celebrate in northern Indiana for the deliverance God has given us from our spiritual impoverishment and malaise. We will celebrate the small acts of courage and boldness by many people as they faithfully went out and prayed and spoke words of healing and hope to the surrounding community. But most of all, we will celebrate Jesus, the one who is faithful, active, and present in our community. 

You can prepare for this by making sure you clear your schedule and ask off from work or school.  Prepare with prayer and fasting on your own. Join us in the days leading up to March 4th to come and see what God is doing. We'd love to see you join us, whether from near or far.
-John M Troyer

Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), tells the story of how they first began the Mercy Ship ministry. They felt God's call and provision to purchase a particular boat. Money was flowing in and excitement was building. But as quickly as it started, it stopped. No more money, no more peace.  They prayed and fasted together to understand why this happened.  They received a clear answer: they had become more excited about the thing and lost sight of the refreshing sweetness of Jesus' presence.  In the end, they lost that boat, along with the money for the down payment. But they learned to keep their focus on God and He continues to sustain their ministry.

I am struck by how easy it is to do this. When God moves and miracles happen, we talk about the miracles. When we've developed our systems and theology in a way that makes sense, we talk about our systems and theology. When something exciting and new happens in our church, we talk about our church. When a new event or movement of God happens, we tell people about the new event or movement.  We invite people to come and see the thing rather than staying focused on the King.

I have been grateful for the burden I see in Revive Indiana leaders to continue pointing toward Jesus. Jesus is the One who heals us, delivers us, and saves us. The prayers, going out each day, the events, the miracles, and the music exist only for the purpose of engaging with Jesus and inviting others to see Him.  The favor of God is clearly resting in a new way on northern Indiana. He is doing things I never imagined He would do. The Revive Indiana team and the area churches have been faithful stewards of this movement. I don't know exactly what God will do next. But I do know this: If a church fails, if something negative happens with Revive Indiana, God's movement here in this area is bigger than any of our organizations.  God will carry forward with whatever it is that He wants to do.

This movement of God is dramatically changing lives, especially in our youth. Pretend kings are being dethroned as the One True King is placed on the throne. These acts of God are breaking down the preconceived ideas of every denomination and church about how God will get things done. For seasoned people of faith, we cannot plan or anticipate this. But we can get involved. We can pray. And we can test everything with the scriptures. Too many times we reject new things because they don't fit with what God has done in our lives in the past. But the witness of scripture is so much bigger than our own theology, traditions, and experiences.

Last Thursday, I was able to participate in an historic, multi-racial gathering of pastors in Elkhart. Why did it happen? It wasn't because of elaborate planning on anyone's part. It happened because God decided it was time for it to happen.  And as a result of a few people saying yes to God's timing, walls are starting to break down.  

So please come and see.  Come and see because we need your help. If you're keeping your distance because you're afraid this thing will go off the rails, come and see. Pray, test it with scripture and help us stay true to the way of Jesus. If you don't live in this area. make plans to come.  We'll get plowed out of our snow storm by the end of the day and we'll have room for you. We need you. Not because we want to glorify Revive Indiana. But because we see the glory of God in our midst. We think you'll see it too.
-John M Troyer

Over the last two weeks, I've been involved in Revive Indiana.  The pace has been a stretch, and I've made many new friends.  I've also had a number of conversations with people who have questions.  What is this about? Who is involved? Is it really a move of God or just some great marketing?

There is an important distinction to be made. Revive Indiana is a vessel, an organization with leaders who are a vehicle that God is using to change our community.  The excitement and energy that is currently focused around this organization does not negate the way God is already at work in many others places, both inside and outside the local churches in our community.  The level of involvement a pastor or congregation has with Revive Indiana is not a sign of how faithful and true they are. The outpouring and blessings of God are not constrained by human designs and plans. 

At the same time, something is clearly happening in a powerful way.  What is making this work?  I believe it is the coming together of the favor of God through the commitment to very specific acts of obedience.  Ultimately, this "works" because God is at work. It is as if God has simply said, "It's Time!" to our community.  The reports of healing, commitment to Christ, the openness to disruption and life change are not a result of human power.

For me personally, it feels like the story of the man who went to the hardware store to buy a chainsaw.  He asked the worker for a good saw, and selected one of the most powerful and largest models they had in the store.  He purchased it and went home, but was back the next day.  "This is a terrible saw, I've hardly made any progress and I've been working for hours on one small tree."  The worker took the saw from him, pulled the starter cord, and the saw roared to life. Startled, the customer jumped back and said, "What's that noise?"  After years of trying to use a chainsaw that wasn't running, it feels like the power has been turned on. 

There are four specific acts of obedience that I see as being critical to this continued favor. The first is the willingness to put the work of God's activity through the Holy Spirit, grounded in scripture, at the center of daily discernment.  The Revive Indiana leaders ask us to Love - Listen - Discern - Respond in every encounter.  I see them exemplify this in the pattern of their own lives. 

The second is the humility of gathering with others that help us cross denominational boundaries within the church. Churches are coming together, not as a rejection of the local churches, but for the purpose of unifying together in prayer and seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit for this community.  

The third is the faithfulness of simply going out each day in teams to pray for others. About ten years ago I gathered with several groups of church leaders that would read and reflect on Luke 10, the passage where Jesus sent out the 72 to share the good news with others. We did this every time we met for several years, and not once did I make it a point to actually go and do what the passage invited me to do. We are now doing this.  On Saturday, 400 gathered to form 100 teams and pray for others. This was not about promoting a local church or Revive Indiana, it was about encounters with Jesus.

The fourth act of obedience is to eat together. In Acts, the table of fellowship is not just about communion, but also about the nature what it means to be connected with each other around an open table. Breakfast, lunch and dinner for six days of the week form the core of these places of connection as the gathered church.  Revive Indiana and the local churches have partnered together to make this a reality for 52 days. This comes at tremendous cost and sacrifice with no dramatic appeal for donations to cover costs. It is simply the church being the church together.
-John M Troyer

If you haven't yet been present for any Revive Indiana events, I invite you to come and check them out.  
Monday - Thursday
7:00am – Prayer time at Maple City Chapel (2015 Lincolnway E, Goshen, IN 46526)
8:00am – Breakfast at Maple City Chapel
9:00am – Organize into teams and Go Out to pray for churches

12:00pm – Noon time Prayer
Monday – First Baptist Church Elkhart 53953 County Road 17, Bristol, IN 46507
Tuesday – Nappanee Missionary Church 70417 State Road 19 North, Nappanee, IN 46550
Wednesday – Brenneman Missionary Church 61115 Indiana 15, Goshen, IN 46528
Thursday – Faith Mission 801 Benham Ave., Elkhart, IN
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00pm – Organize into teams and Go Out to pray for people

Monday - Thursday
5:30pm – Supper at Maple City Chapel (2015 Lincolnway E, Goshen, IN 46526)
7:00pm – Evening Prayer and Worship at Maple City Chapel

Friday
7:00am – Prayer time at Maple City Chapel (2015 Lincolnway E, Goshen, IN 46526)
8:00am – Breakfast at Maple City Chapel
9:00am – Organize into teams and Go Out to pray for churches
12:00pm – Noon time Prayer at River of Life Fellowship (11162 Indiana 120, Middlebury, IN 46540)
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00pm – Organize into teams and Go Out to pray for people
5:30pm – Supper at Clinton Frame Mennonite Church (63846 County Road 35, Goshen, IN 46528)
7:00pm – Training at Clinton Frame Mennonite (nursery through 3rd grade)

Saturday
7:00am – Prayer time at Clinton Frame Mennonite Church (63846 County Road 35, Goshen, IN 46528)
8:00am – Breakfast at Clinton Frame Mennonite Church
9:00am – Organize into teams and Go Out to pray for churches
12:00pm – Noon time Prayer at Calvary Assembly of God (1010 East Mishawaka Road, Elkhart, IN 46517)
1:00pm – Organize into teams and Go Out to pray for people
2:00pm – Lunch (out in the community with your team)
5:30pm – Supper at Clinton Frame Mennonite Church (63846 County Road 35, Goshen, IN 46528)
7:00pm – Evening Worship at Clinton Frame Mennonite (reviveKIDS and nursery)

Sunday
Worship at your local congregation and celebrate what God has done
Rest

I was moved last night as I saw hundreds of you gather on the stage at Revive Indiana.  I was moved, not because of your numbers, but because of the palpable movement of the Holy Spirit in your midst. All day, as I was praying alone and with others, I had a strong sense that Day 10 of our 52 day adventure was Freedom Day, especially for young people. And now, for those of you who weren't there, I want to invite you into something new. Some of you are in bondage. And Jesus has declared that in Him we can find life and freedom and joy.

You are the first generation to carry in your hands access to unlimited pornography which has crippled and trapped many of you. I invite you live into the favor of Jesus for your generation in this community and find freedom.

Some of you are struggling with addictions to drugs and alcohol, seeking out the next thrill without caring about the cost it may have in wrecking your life and your body. I invite you to live into the favor of Jesus for your generation in this community and find freedom. 

Some of you, like the Biblical Hebrews living in slavery in the land of Goshen, have carried heavy weights and expectations that are too high and too burdensome. You are asked to make more and more "bricks" by us adults in your studies and in extracurricular activities. We repent of the immensity of that burden, and shed tears for the emotional and physical damage it has done to you. We invite you to live into the favor of Jesus for your generation in this community and find freedom. 

Some of you are living a religious life that is without life. You have dutifully tried to be good and to do the right things but are mystified by what it means to truly live in the power of the Holy Spirit speaking into your life. We invite you to live into the favor of Jesus for your generation in this community and find freedom.

Some of you embraced a way of life that is that is presented as the path of peace and justice but is emptied of the living and real presence of God.  We repent that we as a church have remained quiet and avoided these justice concerns and have failed to demonstrate in our own lives the living and real presence of the Holy Spirit. We invite you to live into the favor of Jesus for your generation in this community and find freedom.

Some of you have lived in a roller coaster of emotions with intense worship but have not known the fruits of a transformed life. We repent that we as a church have not helped empower you to live into the favor of Jesus for your generation in this community and find freedom. 

This movement of God is much larger than one church or even an organization like Revive Indiana. It is a favor of God that only He has brought to this time and place.  Freedom is only found for the captives when we truly hear the direct voice of God through the Holy Spirit and then respond in obedience to the promptings He brings. As a host pastor, I invite you to take the opportunity to participate and be trained for that kind of life by joining Revive Indiana on Friday night at Clinton Frame Mennonite Church.  It is a night to strengthen all the churches in the community. This is a special night with not just worship, but clear Biblical teaching on how to press forward in the life of faith and freedom that only God can give. We will eat supper together at 5:30 and then begin at 7.  Bring a friend and come see what God will do.
-John M Troyer